Support Cushion

ABSTRACT

A support cushion is disclosed. The support cushion includes: an outer cover; a material to fill the cushion; a strap attached to the cushion. Furthermore, a support cushion for use with a hammock is disclosed. The support cushion includes: an outer cover; a material to fill the cushion; a strap attached to the cushion.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to personal support devices,and, more particularly, to pillows or cushions for supporting a user'shead and neck and related methods.

BACKGROUND

Resting outdoors such as laying on a grassy hill or luxuriating in ahammock has long been a method of relaxing. Pillows are oftencumbersome. Support cushions whether for resting a head on or sitting onare often ill-suited to using outside. Cushions will often get lost ormisplaced and then will not be ready when desired for rest.

SUMMARY

In a first aspect, the disclosure provides a support cushion. Thesupport cushion includes: an outer cover; a material to fill thecushion; a strap attached to the cushion.

In some embodiments, the outer cover comprises a front side and a backside. It is desirable for the support cushion to be comfortable to restone's head against, yet durable enough to last through hard use.Therefore, the front side of the cover comprises one material and theback side of the cover comprises a second material. The material of thefront side of the cover is a material with a soft hand, or that iscomfortable against the skin. The material of the back side is amaterial that is abrasion resistant.

It is often desirable to have a cushion that takes up less space fortransporting, yet expands to be comfortable, for this reason in someembodiments, the filling is compressible. IN some embodiments, thecompressible filling is fiberfill.

Keeping the cushion in place is desirable in many embodiments, in suchembodiments, the strap includes a fastening device. In some of theseembodiments, the fastening device is a carabiner. In some embodiments,the fastening device is a buckle.

In some embodiments, the length of the strap is adjustable.

In some embodiments, the outer cover and the material filling thecushion comprise a body of the cushion, and wherein the strap isconnected to the body of the cushion at a first connection point and ata second connection point. In some embodiments, the first and secondconnection points are spaced apart.

In some embodiments, the cushion is trapezoid shaped and the firstconnection point is at one corner of a short edge of the trapezoid andthe other connection point is at a second corner of the trapezoid.

In a second aspect, the disclosure provides a support cushion for usewith a hammock comprising: an outer cover; a material to fill thecushion; a strap attached to the cushion.

In some embodiments, the outer cover comprises a front side, a backside, and sides. the strap is attached to the sides. In some of theseembodiments, the strap is attached around the sides, leaving a smallportion at the top where the strap is not attached.

Further aspects and embodiments are provided in the foregoing drawings,detailed description and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following drawings are provided to illustrate certain embodimentsdescribed herein. The drawings are merely illustrative and are notintended to limit the scope of claimed inventions and are not intendedto show every potential feature or embodiment of the claimed inventions.The drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale; in some instances,certain elements of the drawing may be enlarged with respect to otherelements of the drawing for purposes of illustration.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a support cushion.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a support cushion used with a hammock.

FIG. 3 is a top view of a support cushion used with a hammock.

FIG. 4 is a view of one embodiments of a support cushion with afastening device.

FIG. 5 is a side view of a support cushion with a strap around the sideand a buckle to adjust the length of the strap.

FIG. 6 is a view of a support cushion that is compressed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description recites various aspects and embodiments of theinventions disclosed herein. No particular embodiment is intended todefine the scope of the invention. Rather, the embodiments providenon-limiting examples of various compositions, and methods that areincluded within the scope of the claimed inventions. The description isto be read from the perspective of one of ordinary skill in the art.Therefore, information that is well known to the ordinarily skilledartisan is not necessarily included.

Definitions

The following terms and phrases have the meanings indicated below,unless otherwise provided herein. This disclosure may employ other termsand phrases not expressly defined herein. Such other terms and phrasesshall have the meanings that they would possess within the context ofthis disclosure to those of ordinary skill in the art. In someinstances, a term or phrase may be defined in the singular or plural. Insuch instances, it is understood that any term in the singular mayinclude its plural counterpart and vice versa, unless expresslyindicated to the contrary.

As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include pluralreferents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. For example,reference to “a substituent” encompasses a single substituent as well astwo or more substituents, and the like.

As used herein, “for example,” “for instance,” “such as,” or “including”are meant to introduce examples that further clarify more generalsubject matter. Unless otherwise expressly indicated, such examples areprovided only as an aid for understanding embodiments illustrated in thepresent disclosure and are not meant to be limiting in any fashion. Nordo these phrases indicate any kind of preference for the disclosedembodiment.

A support cushion may include a cushion body comprising an outer coverand a filler within the outer cover, the outer cover having front andback sides, top and bottom edges, and left and right edges. The bottomedge of the cushion body may have a greater length than the top edge.The support cushion may further include a hanging strap having first andsecond ends coupled to at least one of the top, bottom, left, and rightedges of the cushion body.

In some embodiments, the cushion body may define a trapezoidal shapewith the top and bottom edges being parallel to one another. In oneexample embodiment, the first end of the hanging strap may be coupled toa first connection point on the top edge of the cushion body, and asecond end of the hanging strap may be coupled to a second connectionpoint on the top edge of the cushion body, with the second connectionpoint being spaced apart from the first connection point along the topedge.

In another embodiments, the hanging strap may be coupled to the left andright edges of the cushion body. Moreover, the hanging strap may furtherbe coupled to the bottom edge of the cushion body. The cushion bodycomprises at least one fabric of nylon, cotton, and polyester, forexample. In some embodiments, the cushion body comprises multiplefabrics. In these embodiments, a fabric with a soft hand is placed onone side. This soft hand fabric feels better against the skin and willbe more comfortable as a pillow against the face. In these embodiments,the fabric on the opposite side is composed of a more abrasion resistantor weather resistant fabric. This will improve the durability of thecushion.

In some embodiments, the cushion is filled with a fiberfill. Fiberfillis can be referred to as synthetic down, and may be composed ofpolyester, nylon, polyolefin, or a combination of these materials, thereare numerous trademarked brands of fiberfill and many othernon-trademarked varieties. In some embodiments, the cushion is filledwith foam. The foam may be open cell foam, closed cell foam, memoryfoam, or any combination of foams. The foam may be a solid single pieceof foam, multiple pieces of foam, or cut pieces of foam. In someembodiments, the cushion is filled with down. In some embodiments, thecushion is filled with polystyrene beads.

The support cushion may further include a fastener carried by thehanging strap. Furthermore, the hanging strap may be adjustable tochange a length thereof. Also, the outer cover may have a pocket thereinfor receiving the hanging strap.

One use for the support cushion is as a pillow for a hammock, and thesupport cushion will be described in this context in this disclosure forexample purposes. However, it will be appreciated that the supportcushion may be used for other applications as well.

In some embodiments, the support cushion is shown attached to acamping-style hammock to support the user's head. The support cushionillustratively includes a cushion body having an outer cover and afiller within the outer cover. More particularly, the outer cover hasfront and back sides, top and bottom edges, and left and right edges.

A strap is sewn or otherwise attached to the top edge of the outercover, with the purpose of keeping the cushion body hanging in placewhile it is being used. In the illustrated embodiment, the strap is sewninto the top two corners of the top edge of the cover, thus forming aloop with the top edge of the cushion body. At the peak of the loop, afastener such as a carabineer clip is carried on the hanging strap andis used to attach or couple the hanging strap to the hammock supportrope (which, in turn, attaches the hammock to a tree, etc., as shown inFIG. 6 ). Other suitable fasteners may also be used, such as a hook, ahook-and-loop strap, etc.

In some embodiments, the hanging strap is adjustable in length,accommodating users of different heights. The adjustment is made using aplastic slider, which moves up and down the strap vertically. However,it should be noted that different strap configurations are possible indifferent embodiments. The first and second strap pieces may be attachedto the top edge as described above (or to other edges, as will bedescribed further below), and these two separate strap pieces may betied, buckled (similar to a belt), or otherwise connected together toform the hanging (and optionally adjustable) strap. A pocket may be sewninto the back side of the cover, if desired. In some embodiments, thepocket is located at the bottom half of the pillow. The upper portion ofthe pillow, including the straps, may be stuffed or tucked into thepocket, compacting the pillow to roughly half its size to facilitatetravel. The pocket may also be used for carrying other items along withthe pillow as well in some embodiments. Pockets may also be locatedelsewhere on the outer cover, if desired (e.g., on the left and/or rightedges, front side, bottom side, etc.).

In another embodiment, on one (or both) corners of the cushion afastening loop may be secured (e.g., plastic, metal, etc.). In someembodiments, the fastening loop is a rectangular 1-inch wide plasticpiece through which the hanging strap feeds, although other sizes andshapes may also be used. This creates a loop with the hanging strap,which can be either shortened or elongated to change the overall lengthof the hanging strap.

In some embodiments, the hanging strap is secured to the left and rightedges of the cushion body, as opposed to the top edge as discussedabove. Here, the hanging strap is attached (e.g., sewn, riveted, etc.)along the left and right edges of the cushion body up from the bottomedge to about the half-way point, although this attachment could belower to the bottom edge or extend all the way to the top edge, ifdesired. Moreover, in this embodiment, the hanging strap also continuesaround the bottom edge of the cushion body and attaches thereto (e.g.,by sewing, rivets, etc.). In this embodiment, the hanging strap may alsobe used to wrap the cushion body up into a more compact travelingconfiguration, similar to a sleeping bag.

The cushion bodies in the above-described embodiments are generallytrapezoidal in shape with parallel top and bottom edges and left andright side edges that slant inward from the bottom edge toward the topedge. That is, the bottom edge has a greater length than the top edge.This is advantageous for use within a camping hammock such as the onenoted above, for example, as the width of the hammock will taper inwardas it gets closer to the top (head end) of the hammock. Thus, thetapered, trapezoidal shape of the support cushion will allow it to fitbetter at the head end of the hammock. However, it should be noted thata trapezoidal shape need not be used in all embodiments. The top and/orbottom edges do not necessarily have to be straight edges, or parallelto one another. Moreover, the left and right side edges also do not haveto be straight or parallel to one another.

In some embodiments, the outer cover may be made out of polyestertaffeta, parachute nylon, cotton canvas, cotton flannel,polyester/cotton blends, etc. The inner filler or stuffing material mayalso be made out of cotton, polyester, polyester/cotton blends,feathers, etc. With regard to the hanging strap, one example material isnylon, such as in one-inch widths, although other widths and materials(e.g., leather, etc.) may also be used. In one embodiment implementationfor a camping hammock, the cushion body may have dimensions in a rangeof about 10 inches to about 24 inches wide, about 10 inches to about 24inches long, and about 2 inches to about 8 inches thick. However,different dimensions may be used for different sizes of hammocks, andalso for different embodiments other than hammocks, as will beappreciated by those skilled in the art.

Now referring to FIG. 1 , In one embodiment, the first end of thehanging strap may be coupled to a first connection point 4 a on the topedge of the cushion body, and a second end of the hanging strap may becoupled to a second connection point 4 b on the top edge of the cushionbody, with the second connection point being spaced apart from the firstconnection point along the top edge. A strap 3 is sewn or otherwiseattached to the top edge of the outer cover, with the purpose of keepingthe cushion body hanging in place while it is being used. In someembodiments, the strap is sewn into the top two corners of the top edgeof the cover, thus forming a loop with the top edge of the cushion body.At the peak of the loop, a fastener such as a carabineer clip 7 iscarried on the hanging strap and is used to attach or couple the hangingstrap to the hammock support rope. Other suitable fasteners may also beused, such as a hook, a hook-and-loop strap, etc., the hanging strap isadjustable in length, accommodating users of different heights. Theadjustment is made using a plastic slider 5, which moves up and down thestrap vertically. However, it should be noted that different strapconfigurations are possible in different embodiments. For example, firstand second strap pieces may be attached to the top edge as describedabove, and these two separate strap pieces may be tied, buckled (similarto a belt), or otherwise connected together to form the hanging (andoptionally adjustable) strap.

Referring to FIGS. 2-6 , in various embodiments, the support cushion isshown attached to a camping-style hammock to support the user's head.The support cushion 201 a cushion body having an outer cover and afiller within the outer cover. More particularly, the outer cover hasfront and back sides, top and bottom edges, and left and right edges.

A strap 203 is sewn or otherwise attached to the top edge of the outercover, with the purpose of keeping the cushion body hanging in placewhile it is being used. In some embodiments, the strap is sewn into thetop two corners of the top edge of the cover, thus forming a loop withthe top edge of the cushion body. At the peak of the loop, a fastenersuch as a carabineer clip 7 is carried on the hanging strap and is usedto attach or couple the hanging strap to the hammock support rope 211which, in turn, attaches the hammock to a tree. In some embodiments, thefastener is a hook-and-loop (often identified by the trademarked nameVelcro).

Referring to FIG. 5 , the strap 503 continues around the sides of thesupport cushion, these strap continuations 513 are attached around thesides of cushion. The strap cushions are attached in one of a variety ofways. In some embodiments, the strap continuations 513 are attached bysewing the continuations to the sides of the cushion. In someembodiments, the strap continuations 513 are attached with adhesives.

In some embodiments, the support cushion is designed to compress.Referring to FIG. 6 , the strap 603 compresses the cushion 601.

All patents and published patent applications referred to herein areincorporated herein by reference. The invention has been described withreference to various specific and preferred embodiments and techniques.Nevertheless, it is understood that many variations and modificationsmay be made while remaining within the spirit and scope of theinvention.

1. A support cushion comprising: an outer cover; a material to fill thecushion; a strap attached to the cushion.
 2. The support cushion ofclaim 1, wherein the outer cover comprises a front side and a back side.3. The support cushion of claim 2, wherein the front side of the covercomprises one material and the back side of the cover comprises a secondmaterial.
 4. The support cushion of claim 3, wherein the material of thefront side of the cover is a material with a soft hand.
 5. The supportcushion of claim 3, wherein the material of the back side is a materialthat is abrasion resistant.
 6. The support cushion of claim 1, whereinthe filling is compressible.
 7. The support cushion of claim 6, whereinthe compressible filling is fiberfill.
 8. The support cushion of claim1, wherein the strap includes a fastening device.
 9. The support cushionof claim 8, wherein the fastening device is a carabiner.
 10. The supportcushion of claim 8, wherein the fastening device is a buckle.
 11. Thesupport cushion of claim 1, wherein the length of the strap isadjustable.
 12. The support cushion of claim 1, wherein the outer coverand the material filling the cushion comprise a body of the cushion, andwherein the strap is connected to the body of the cushion at a firstconnection point and at a second connection point.
 13. The supportcushion of claim 12, wherein the first and second connection points arespaced apart.
 14. The support cushion of claim 12, wherein the cushionis trapezoid shaped and the first connection point is at one corner of ashort edge of the trapezoid and the other connection point is at asecond corner of the trapezoid.
 15. The support cushion of claim 11,wherein the cushion is designed to be used with a hammock.
 16. A supportcushion for use with a hammock comprising: an outer cover; a material tofill the cushion; a strap attached to the cushion.
 17. The supportcushion of claim 16, wherein the outer cover comprises a front side, aback side, and sides.
 18. The support cushion of claim 17, wherein thestrap is attached to the sides.
 19. The support cushion of claim 18,wherein the strap is attached around the sides, leaving a small portionat the top where the strap is not attached.
 20. The support cushion ofclaim 16, wherein the cushion is rectangular.